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Online Gambling Coming to the District

Wednesday, Apr 13, 2011 | Updated 10:18 AM EST

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The Texas Gaming Association says expanding gambling could bring in $1.2 billion a year in gaming taxes alone.

Is this D.C., or sin city?

On Tuesday the mayor got cuffed for civil disobedience, and now, the city's online betting tables are open for business.

The nation's capital has now become the only jurisdiction in the country to allow internet gambling, the Associated Press reports.

In D.C.'s 2011 budget, the city included a provision for online gambling within its borders. Congress had a 30-day period to raise an objection to the proposal, which has now passed.

The 2010 Lottery Modernization Act provides for "games of skill and games of chance" to be online within the District's borders.

What form those games will take is still being formulated. The D.C. Lottery and Charitable Games Board would oversee any online gambling. Preliminary plans call for the first games being made available in June. A company that designs and runs online games, Intralot, has a contract with the city.

Technology will be in place to bar residents from other states from entering into any D.C. based online gaming.

D.C. Council member Michael A. Brown told the A.P. he hopes that the new gaming revenue will bring in $13 million through fiscal year 2014.